Key articles

Workers occupations spread at Visteon Plants.

“Don’t wait for politicians and people high up in the unions- just do it yourself”, says Unite shop steward John McGuire.

Protests spread, as workers continue to occupy Visteon/Ford plant in West Belfast.

Workers decided to take action on Tuesday after the car parts company announced without notice that administrators are being brought in with the loss of 210 jobs with minimum redundancy payments. A further 400 people will also lose there jobs across the UK. Even those who have been working at the plant for 30 years will be receiving £9,000 in redundancy payment with most getting less.

Davy McMurray, from the Unite trade union in Northern Ireland said the way the job cuts were announced was "brutal." "The administrators came in, took a meeting of the workforce and told them their employment was terminated."

Visteon took over from the former Ford plant in 2000. Ever since that, management at the plant have been undermining workers rights and conditions including gradually reducing redundancy payments. The company’s two other plants Basildon and Enfield in England have now been occupied.

Despite the devastating news and bosses refusing to meet face to face, solidarity and unity amongst workers remain determined to reach a settlement. Motorists on the MI motorway were keen to express there support through beeping their horn. Essential materials and goods such as food are supplying the blockade.

This is the latest example of us having to pay for the crisis in capitalism and the mess by politicians and the very rich. Like the Calcast workers in Derry and the Watford Crystal workers, these brave and determined car workers are leading by example in resisting attacks on our rights and conditions. Support and solidarity by the wider workers movement is essential.

Solidarity is Strength
For Workers Control’.

The audio interview below took place inside the plant with Unite shop steward and convenor John McGuire.

PDF

This article opens by looking at how the meaning of communism as opposed to socialism evolved in the late nineteenth century and closes with a look at how this applies to the free software movement today. The terms socialism and communism appear in England around the 1820s as terms adopted by...

Get email alerts

Follow us for our latest news & updates

This site archives most material the WSM publishes but there is often a delay of a few days before stories get copied here from our Facebook pages. To see material as we publish it follow us on our main page linked below or if you live in Ireland also via Solidarity Times.

Our twitter coverage is different to what appears on our Facebook page and includes highly curated retweets of important international stories.